Medea
by Thyme In Her Eyes
Summary: Jason reflects on Medea.


Medea  
  
Author's Note: This is a looong poem about one of my favourite characters  
from Greek mythology, Medea. Told from the perspective of Jason (never  
thought the day would come!). It's written in a deliberately simple style,  
and I hope it doesn't put anyone off. As a side-note perhaps if you're not  
familiar with the myth, you might want to skip this one...what am I saying?  
I spent a good while writing this! So, if anyone out there wants to read  
it, go ahead and enjoy! ;)  
  
-- Medea --  
  
The blazing dawn draws on  
And my final hour is near,  
If only you were not gone  
My lost Medea.  
  
No Judith, Delilah or Allayne  
Could inspire such deep fear,  
I tremble at times to hear your name  
Oh dark Medea.  
  
To think I once touched your hair  
And ran my hands through darkness so dear,  
And still no woman can compare  
With you, Medea.  
  
What sort of strange, sadistic spawn  
What god far from here,  
Made you a dark, delicious pawn  
Of death, Medea?  
  
I wronged you once, I dare to say  
And have paid the price in tears  
For you have made me mourn each day  
I live, Medea.  
  
When I brutally smote your heart  
Evil was born from your tear,  
And put the blackest of its parts  
In you, Medea.  
  
There was no hurt a god could bestow  
No wound that did not sear,  
As much as the pain and the woe  
You inflicted, Medea.  
  
Black eyes reflecting firelight  
You did look upon me and sneer  
For you had won and I had lost  
Every thing, Medea.  
  
How can I forgive you, wife?  
You destroyed all I held dear,  
All I worked for my whole life  
Tumbled down, Medea.  
  
All I had, took a day for you  
To destroy in bitter cheer,  
And so all I had was given to me (I never knew)  
By you, Medea.  
  
Corinth sank like the sun  
Blazing with your hate, struck by the spear  
Of your wrath; when all was done  
Ash remained, Medea.  
  
But by far your greatest crime  
One to which not even the gods cannot adhere,  
Was the death of two boys, lost to time  
Our children, Medea.  
  
In a blaze of glory, your heart torn  
You slew them, vengeful seer,  
Neither of us can forgive, only mourn  
You murderess, Medea.  
  
In our escapades, when our love was but a bud  
I desired you most when you would appear,  
Swathed and soaked in our enemies' blood  
Crimson seductress, Medea.  
  
Now that desire was brutally mocked  
In furious scarlet you did jeer,  
At my loss, your absolute revenge  
Your power, Medea.  
  
Never was there a more sickly sight  
One that cannot be forgotten by beer,  
Than you, hair ebony as the night,  
Blood red, Medea.  
  
In goodbye, your final act  
Tore the veil from my eyes unclear,  
I recalled how I broke our pact  
In foolishness, Medea.  
  
Your final punishment, blaring and raging  
The fault is my own, and guilt shall appear  
In my dreams forever, as I am ageing  
Without you, Medea.  
  
I have hated and I have cursed  
'Till my tongue was a black smear,  
Yet still my heart is always immersed  
In want, Medea.  
  
My fury flares bright, I long  
For your blood to shed in good cheer  
Given a chance, I would show you  
No mercy, Medea.  
  
Your hands are with bitterest blood  
Of our sweet children smeared,  
If I find you, you shall drown in a flood  
Of pain, Medea.  
  
To speak your name is to warrant death  
For my disgust is hot and clear,  
The one I shall curse with my last breath  
Is you, Medea.  
  
Though were I granted my dearest wish  
I would shed both blood and tears,  
For I would feel sweet joy and bitter anguish  
Over you, Medea.  
  
At times my dreams suffer a plague  
That does mock me and jeer,  
In visions so twisted and vague  
I long, Medea.  
  
You still know how to work your magic  
For your body I still revere,  
And though I find it doubly tragic  
I dream, Medea.  
  
In madness you torment me yet again  
As I writhe in need and fear,  
Fair flesh has felled far better men  
Than I, Medea.  
  
You were once so wild, yet so young  
All I wanted was you, my dear,  
To feel your breath, mouth and tongue  
Was paradise, Medea.  
  
Was this a final revenge, a cruel spell  
Cast by you, far from here?  
That I should despise and want you still; tell!  
Answer me, Medea.  
  
Why should I want your ebony hair and fierce eyes  
And pale skin, so smooth and clear?  
Why should I want the one I truly despise  
The most, Medea?  
  
I must be mad to feel such yearning  
From this course I wish I could steer  
Away from your forge and your burning  
Forever fair, Medea.  
  
Your ripe body still excites my own  
And I am filled with coarse fear  
That bleaches my very bones  
And entices, Medea.  
  
Your sorcery still burns me with black fire  
Oh demon beneath a fine veneer,  
The memories of you and I still ignite desire  
And shame, Medea.  
  
I imagine your lips, aching  
With a thirst so dark and queer,  
Drinking in my kisses and taking  
My soul, Medea.  
  
I see you wear that look of saints  
That once seemed so sincere,  
That hides the hungry beast that waits  
In you, Medea.  
  
Were I to wake in your bed  
Would I rejoice and hold you near,  
Or gladly smother you instead  
Which one, Medea?  
  
There is blood between us  
And the penalty of reunion is severe,  
We would murder one another, in hate and lust  
Unhappy forever, Medea.  
  
I recall you innocent, years back  
A woman to revere,  
Was it I who painted black  
Your heart, Medea?  
  
You vanished into the dark  
Pulled by dragons, as the gods leer  
Upon us, trapped in hate, without a spark  
Of light, Medea.  
  
Where are you now, my love?  
Does your heart grieve and shed many a tear  
Over the past and do you dream of  
Our family, Medea?  
  
I wonder, almost each day and night  
Where do you now dwell, on another frontier  
Do you regret as I regret the loss of your light?  
I do, Medea.  
  
Yet I have been doubly dealt  
A blow so severe  
I was foolish and selfish and have felt  
No peace, Medea.  
  
By all the gods of Olympus Mountain  
To hold true to you always, I did adhere,  
This vow I broke, shattering our bargain  
And you, Medea.  
  
And despite all my pained uproars  
I have always known a truth so severe,  
That 'twas as much my fault as yours  
It hurts, Medea.  
  
All that I have lost, all that you stole  
The end of my heroic career,  
The years taken their black toll  
Missing you, Medea.  
  
Ah! That is your curse – the worst of it!  
It is the thing most confoundingly unclear!  
Why do I miss your words, your smile, your wit  
Your love, Medea?  
  
It would be so simple to fall into despair  
And regret your love lost, gone far from here,  
But I hate too bitterly and could not bear  
To forgive, Medea.  
  
I love you still, yet I hate much more  
And miss you still, my dear,  
But for my future and the children you tore  
I hate Medea.  
  
But the want still lingers, ever potent  
Wanting only your sighs to hear,  
Consumed by wretchedness ever-poignant  
I howl, Medea.  
  
I miss using your hair as a pillow  
Your sleeping limbs, your secret sneer,  
All lost to me, since the girl with hair of yellow  
Tempted me, Medea.  
  
Into madness I must plunge utterly  
For it is a cost too dear,  
To bear these battling feelings for thee  
Is torture, Medea.  
  
All the solace my damaged mind begets  
That spares me from hate and fear,  
Is that you suffer similar regrets  
And tumult, Medea.  
  
Do you still burn with bitter flames  
And flames of spent desire that some nights appear?  
I pray you do, and that they bring you shame  
And loss, Medea.  
  
The only woman I ever loved, my deadly wife  
The only enemy I truly hated and feared,  
The only one worth knowing in this life  
Was you, Medea.  
  
Were you to hear such words  
You would hate me all the more, my dear,  
And your thoughts would fly away like birds  
From me, Medea.  
  
Devoured by gnawing fury  
And loss that shall never clear  
I, Jason Oathbreaker, will end it – surely  
You laugh, Medea?  
  
Death lies heavy in my eyes  
The fate of a hero insincere,  
I shall end my life of lies  
And die, Medea.  
  
I die by the blessed prow of the Argo  
That took me to your frontier,  
And returned with bloody cargo  
My wife, Medea.  
  
Would you flourish in delight  
Or will you shed a tear?  
I care not, for this night,  
I end, Medea.  
  
Will this glad, dark news sustain  
Your fiendish life, or will not mere  
Joy in your heart reign  
After death, Medea.  
  
Will you feast upon my blood  
And devour me with cheer?  
Will you dance and cover me in mud,  
Or weep, Medea?  
  
The hangman's rope shall take me  
And leave you for many a year,  
Forget hate in death, and look at the sea  
Remembering Jason, Medea.  
  
After death, your end will start  
And I shall wait forever here,  
Perhaps to someday tear you apart  
Or forgive, Medea.  
  
You think you've seen the last of me  
Your husband unrevered,  
But mine will be a face you see  
In dreams, Medea.  
  
We were once so bound in one another, in love true  
Now, I see you in visions and peer,  
When our affinity grows slack, will you  
Feel it, Medea?  
  
-- End -- 


End file.
